Google+

Ok, I will be first person to admit I wasn't the biggest fan of Google+ when it came out. But despite all criticism thrown at it, it seems to have come out of that early phase and is slowly and steadily increasing its user base. With the addition of Google Pages, business of all size and popular websites are creating their pages on it. Looks like Google+ is here to stay. But how long before companies start touting their Google addresses publicly, in advertisements, in theaters, on TV? Google still has a long way to before it catches up with Facebook, but do we even know if its gaining on it? For example, how many of you have dumped Facebook in favor of Google+ yet? Not many I bet. The only reason I've seen people *really* switch is because they can't stand Facebook, and it's ok. Having 1000+ friends and gradually becoming overly-social can take its toll. But those users are a minority.

What Google+ is great at, admittedly, is gathering new followers. People add me almost daily over there. How many of them are spam bots, I'm not sure though. I love Google as a platform. I love Gmail, I use it all the time. Google Calendar is what drives my iPhone. Google Reader, Images, Videos, Scholar, you name it I use it. But what innovation will Google bring via Google+ that Facebook won't replicate soon, and present it to its much larger user base? But I bet Google has a great plan for it going forward. We'll just have to wait and watch.

Are you the remembering type?

I don't know why people are so forgetful, or maybe it is me that tends to remember things or people more than most. I'm talking about regular stuff - like running into people randomly or remembering people you met through a mutual friend. I tend to remember this stuff pretty well, but I often find that the other person has absolutely no clue who I am in some situations, and some don't even recognize me at all! Surprisingly for me, I've found not a lot of people are of this nature. Or maybe they're too preoccupied with other stuff, but come on seriously you can't remember a guy you met couple of days ago?! People should eat more almonds I say. That's what I used to do ..... especially in exam season ;)


So, are you the remembering type?

The never-ending search for a domain

Hi y'all!

Its been a while since I've updated this blog, and I do apologize for that. Things have been changing rapidly in my life, which has sort of prevented me from venting my anger and frustration about everything that has come to pass lately. And by that, I do mean all things Pakistan. But we'll come to that in other post. Right now, I'm hoping to move the blog to my own domain soon. Unfortunately, I have one of those common names that aren't available at all. For instance:

Raza.com

RazaAbbas.com

RazaSyed.com

are all taken. This severely restricts my options, and frankly I have no choice but to go for a simple prefix/suffix with my name. Something along the lines of:

AllRaza.com

RazaGeek.com

RazaNow.com

They're all available btw. The trouble is I like 'em one day, and not like 'em at all another day. Help me decide people!

On reading the Quran

A friend had shared this link on twitter, and I just had to post it here. It is a TED talk given by Lesley Hazleton, author of the book 'The Shia-Sunni split in Islam' which I previously reviewed here. Such an objective and outside view of Islam is refreshing, and shows how much Islam is really misunderstood!